JAMAICA SHOPPING

Our favorite Jamaica purchases are the woodcarvings, both freestanding and bas relief of local animal life, faces, fish, and just about everything else you can imagine. The finest pieces are carved from lignum vitae, or wood of life, a pale hardwood that is so dense it won't float.

You'll also find traditional shopping centers with the finest items: jewelry, china, crystal, collectible figurines, watches, and more. In the shopping centers, prices are firm just like at home. In Montego Bay, the top shopping centers are City Centre, a block-long collection of duty-free shops, Holiday Village Shopping Centre near Holiday Inn SunSpree, and the luxurious Half Moon Shopping Village, a compendium of fine stores where you'll find shops selling designer wear, fine jewelry, perfumes, resort wear, local crafts, and more.

In Negril, the Hi-Lo Shopping Center offers a good selection of souvenir, liquor, music, and sportwear stores. The Hi-Lo grocery itself is an excellent shopping stop; pop in to purchase spices, hot sauces, liquor, and Blue Mountain coffee at prices far lower than you'll see in the hotel gift shops.

Ocho Rios is home to the Taj Mahal Shopping Centre, a complex of fine duty-free shops and other stores that sell souvenir items, liquor, and Blue Mountain coffee.

A very legal agricultural product is Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, considered one of the finest coffees in the world. Gift shops at the resorts and the airport sell the coffee in small burlap gift bags for about $1 US per ounce (less than half the price found in American coffee shops). You can find the coffee even cheaper at local markets.

Jamaica's rums and liqueurs are also popular souvenirs. Appleton and Meyer's Rum, Tia Maria coffee liqueur, and Red Stripe beer are sold throughout the island. You can return to the U.S. with one liter without paying duty charges.